Illusions are what those “in charge” use to baffle the public with BS while the economy and our way of life are collapsing right before our eyes.

Let’s take a look at a few examples:

  • The Inflation Reduction Act. The very name insinuates that costs should come down rather than rise. If so, it would be a first in recorded history that spending an extra $891 BILLION, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would REDUCE INFLATION. It is the EXACT OPPOSITE that has taken place and will likely get far worse before getting better.
  • RUSSIA IS THE PROBLEM. While I am sure Russia may have caused some problems it is rarely, if ever, reported in the mainstream media that the USA used a color revolution in 2014 to overthrow a democratically elected government in Ukraine and replaced it with a puppet government that favored Western ties. In addition, the new government allowed Nazi factions to bomb areas that VOTED to join Russia and they have been carrying out attacks in the Donbass and other areas for a decade. Putin went in to put an end to this. Putin has shown a peace agreement that he was ready to sign 2 years ago but the Ukrainians were told that they could not sign by Boris Johnson of Great Britain. How many lives and livelihoods have been lost because of this stupidity?
  • If you don’t toe the line, we will sanction you to oblivion. Russia, along with their BRICS partners have shown that, by working together, they can not only get around sanctions but also thrive. Also, by freezing Russian assets and threatening to steal them, it has set off a series of events that are hastening the US dollar’s demise as the world’s reserve currency. The BRICS, led by Russia and China are going full-speed into alternative payment systems and into dumping US assets (mainly treasuries) and buying gold and commodities- which are rumored to be what their new currency will be backed by. The BRICS currently have 10 members but over 40 are expressing interest in joining. The latest country that has expressed interest is Turkey. This is MAJOR. Another development that I wrote about a few months ago was project MBridge- a project by the Bank of International Settlements- to enable cross-border transactions digitally with a blockchain record. While this has been in the works for a LONG time it is now functional and has been rolled out in the UAE, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Major banks in these countries are also involved. In addition, Saudia Arabia, while not using it yet is a full participating member with 26 other central banks as observing members. (China Morning Post). Keep in mind that just last week I mentioned that ASEAN (Asian trading bloc) has decided to settle local trades with local currencies. Brazil (BRICS member) is advocating for CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) to join BRICS and the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) all appear to be on the same de-dollarization path. Also keep in mind that most of Africa is waking up to the fact that they have been bamboozled by Europe and the USA for centuries and are now kicking the colonial powers out with help from Russia and China.
  • “STRONG” US dollar. Anyone who shops, drives or pays bills knows that this is simply not true. The illusion comes in when they “print up” paper contracts of anything they want to manipulate the price of and mostly SELL to suppress the price. I have written extensively about the suppression of gold and silver. The gold is suppressed to give the ILLUSION of dollar strength and I believe that silver has been suppressed so those “in charge” could buy one of the most important industrial metals at massive discounts. This will work until the supply is gone and the jig will be up. True price discovery will take place, and most will be STUNNED to see the level of deceit that has taken place. The US dollar is ONLY strong when compared to even weaker currencies like the collapsing Japanese Yen, Euro and others. Speaking of the Japanese Yen Bloomberg reported that between April 29- May 1, the Bank of Japan spent $68 BILLION to give the ILLUSION that the Yen was not collapsing. A good example of why those “in charge” keep the gold price down is that gold (being REAL money and an asset) gives a great idea of a currency’s purchasing power. In the last 6 months an ounce of gold in Japan has gone from 290,000 Yen in December 2023 to 361,000 Yen in June of 2024. 71,000 Yen more to buy 1 OUNCE of gold. This is what happens when you monetize the debt and buy everything in sight to maintain the ILLUSION. Hmm… who else is doing the same thing? Answer- almost all developed country Central Banks. Since they know what to expect by these actions it is no surprise that virtually all- besides the Fed and a few others- are buying gold in record amounts.
  • The Economy is STRONG. How I wish it was but, alas, the economic numbers- even though they are manipulated beyond belief to keep people in the dark for as long as possible- are so bad that they show contraction even with the government (actually, the Fed) conjuring up a trillion dollars of Illusionary “wealth” every 3 months or so- along with massive off-balance sheet spending on top of it. If the economy was actually strong, we would see:
  • More Hours worked. We are seeing less hours worked in most reports that we are seeing.
  • More Freight Moving. We are seeing less freight and lower costs per load right now.
  • Businesses forming and stores opening. In reality, we are seeing record numbers of layoffs, store closings and bankruptcies.
  • Full time family supporting jobs would be growing. We are actually seeing the destruction of millions of full-time jobs while part-time jobs and gig jobs are growing. The “numbers” don’t look so bad because if someone has 3 part-time jobs – HEY that’s 3 JOBS we created.

Another BIG one is that the consumer is strong- according to the “experts” on the financial game shows. According to those who are really in the know- like restaurant owners, Wal Mart, Target and dollar stores they are all warning that the consumer is tapped out. Rising loan delinquencies and bankruptcies along with a record 1.34 TRILLION in credit card debt with the average interest being over 21% would seem to bear that out.

It is really sad what has happened to our “news stations” which have become nothing but propaganda outlets and opinion stories rather than reporting on real news that may affect our lives. We really can’t trust anything we see anymore without doing further research because it seems almost everyone on the MSM has an agenda. Many times, TRUTH is not on the agenda.

The everything bubble has now reached new heights. Heights which I am not aware that we have seen at any time in recorded history. In looking at the numbers it is clear to me that MANY are going to be disappointed when the hundreds of trillions that have been promised to be repaid can’t be – at least without destroying the currency you will be receiving in repayment. This goes for ALL debt. Personal, corporate, municipal, State and Federal governments. Those holding stocks with more debt than equity keep in mind the first to lose it ALL is the common stock shareholder. These are just a few reasons why I prefer hard assets and companies that produce them provided they have strong balance sheets and why I am shunning most debt-based assets as best I can. Since the US dollar is actually a debt-based asset I certainly can’t avoid debt-based assets altogether. Hopefully, as the US dollar loses the remaining 2% of purchasing power we have left since the Fed took control of it in 1913, my ASSETS will compensate for the loss of purchasing power in our debt-based system of US dollars and most all other currencies.

Be Prepared!

Any opinions are those of Mike Savage and not necessarily of those of RJFS or Raymond James. Expressions of opinion are as of this date and are subject to change without notice. The information in this report does not purport to be a complete description of securities, markets or developments referred to in this material. The information has been obtained from sources deemed to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Any information is not a complete summary or statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and does not constitute a recommendation. There is no guarantee that these statements, opinions or forecasts provided herein will prove to be correct.

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